Visual signal generation and electrical outlet control means therefor



Sept. 18, 1962 A. c. HARAM 3,054,994

VISUAL SIGNAL GENERATION AND ELECTRICAL OUTLET CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR A Flled July 50, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheetjl ATTORNEYS' Sept. 18, 1962 A. c. HARAM 3,054,994

VISUAL SIGNAL GENERATION AND ELECTRICAL OUTLET Y CONTROL MEANS THEREEOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 50, 1958 ff 14 l L Il.

United States Patent O 3,054,994 VISUAL SIGNAL GENERATION AND ELECTRICAL OUTLET CONTROL MEANS THEREFOR Arthur Carsten Haram, 2831 13th W., Seattle, Wash. Filed July 30, 1958, Ser. No. 751,932 4 Claims. (Cl. 340-326) This invention relates to control means for generating a visual signal simultaneously with energization of a sound signal system and more particularly relates to control means for utilization in conjunction with conventional sound alarm systems of the door bell and/or telephone types or the like, to give a conjunctive visual warning readily recognizable by persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, a visually perceptible device such as a reading7 lamp advantageously being employed to give visual warning of energization of the sound alarm system, without loss of function of such visually perceptible device.

While the generation of a visual signal, such as a signal light, along with or responsive to a sound signal is known, it has been customary heretofore to merely provide a visual signal which is changed from either a normally off to a momentarily on condition or from a normally on to a momentarily off condition as an indicator that the sound signal is being energized.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a visual signal by utilization of a llight producing means, such as a reading lamp, bed light or the like, without impairment of the normal function of the light producing means. A more specic object of the present invention is to provide an electrical outlet control means readily attachable to a standard electrical outlet as available in the home, Without loss of the electrical outlet for other uses, and without requiring special circuits or separate lighting or other visually perceptible means beyond that normally used. A further related object of the present invention is to provide an electrical outlet control box, generating from a sound system control input, a visually perceptible signal, manifested by change in energization condition of a light producing means such as a reading lamp, bed light or the like, situated near a user such as a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, the user thereby immediately recognizing that the sound system is being energized, such visually perceptive signal being generated automatically irrespective of whether the light producing means is or is not in use for other purposes at the time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide in an electrical outlet control box of the type indicated, characterized by having a simple, compact, safe, and Well insulated arrangement of the electrical elements and wiring therein, completely shielding the user from inadvertent contact with the power circuits involved, which control box is easily physically attachable directly to standard electrical outlets, is pleasing, small, and unobtrusive in appearance, and is convenient to use.

These and other various and more specific objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following disclosure of a typical and therefore nonlimitive embodiment thereof, and in the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements refer to like parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of the assembled control box;

FIG. 2 is a perspective back view of the control box illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse View in cross-section of the control box illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, taken substantially along line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a further transverse view in cross-section of kthe control box illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

Patented Sept. 18, 1962 ice FIG. 5 is a vertical View in cross-section of the control box shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, taken substantially along line 5 5 of FIG. l;

FIG. 6 is a View in rear elevation of the control box illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, with the back wall thereof removed, and with certain elements shown broken away, for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 7 is a wiring diagram, showing the various control elements in generally the same physical layout as they are shown in FIG. 6; with the wiring connections yand electrical symbols corresponding thereto being shown schematically;

FIG. 7A is a fragmentary wiring diagram and schematic view of a modified form of sound signal input alternately employed in lieu of the sound signal input and associated relay shown in FIG. 7, the modification shown in FIG. 7A permitting connection with two sound signal systems such as a door bell and a telephone;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the circuity presented in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 8A is a schematic diagram of the modified sound signal system input shown in FIG. 7A.

Turning now to a specific consideration of a typical embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the means for generating a visually recognizable warning or signal, upon energization of a sound signal system, can advantageously take the form of an electrical outlet control box having a front Wall 10, top and bottom walls 11 and 12, side Walls 13 and 14, said walls 10-13 being preferably formed as an integral shell from plastic or like insulating material, the external form of said control box further comprising a removable back wall 15, also of insulating material, retained in position by screw 16.

Said back Wall 15 mounts, as by rivets 17 and 18, a pair of spaced connector prongs 19 and 20, arranged to be received in one outlet of a standard so-called ilushtype electrical outlet and physically mounted in position on said outlet by means of screw 21 passing through front wall 10 and back wall 15 and replacing one of the electrical outlet faceplate mounting screws.

When the control box characterizing the present inven- -tion is assembled, as shown in FIGS. l through 6, two electrical outlets 22 and 23, each conventional per se in design, are displayed through front wall 10, of which outlet 22 is continuously connected to power input prongs 19 and 20, and of which outlet 23 is a controlled power output means, the nature of the connections and control for said outlet means 22 and 23 being discussed in detail hereinafter. Advantageously, power outlets 22 and 23 are of contrasting colors for ready identification.

Manually actuated switch means 24 is arranged to project through top wall 11 in a manner to be readily accessible to establish controlled power outlet 23 in either a normally on or a normally oft condition of energization. Said switch means 24 is of the single pole, double throw type, and is also conventional per se.

The inner face of front wall 10 mounts, as by gluing, an L-shaped spacer block 25 situated to lie between outlets 22 and 23, the cut away portion of which rests against the inner edge of switch means 24. Said L-shaped block 25, in conjunction with a second spacer Iblock 26 of generally cross-shaped conguration, cross-sectionally considered (see FIG. 3), functioned to anchor said outlets 22 and 23 and said switch means 24 in the assembled position illustrated.

A six volt, four contact, double throw relay 27, also conventional per se, is mounted on back wall 15 by a screw 28 and spacer sleeve 29 near the lower end of said back wall 15, and a two connector terminal block 30 is arranged at the lower end of said back wall 15, the mounting of said terminal block 30 being by means of 3 rivets 31 and 32 (FIG. 2). Terminal block 30 constitutes means for connecting an input from the associated sound alarm system and has two terminal screws 33 and 34, a portion of the rear edge of bottom wall 11 being cut away to accommodate the two-connector line from the sound signal system, as indicated at (FIG. 2).

Having in View the nature and arrangement of the major elements of the outlet control box, as illustrated and discussed above, consideration will now be given to the wiring connections and manner of operation thereof, with particular reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, and with further identification of certain additional elements in FIGS. l through 6, as they pertain to and are included in the electrical circuitry.

As shown in FIG. 8 for example, power input to the control box is through power input prongs 19 and 20, which are directly connected to outlet 22 by lines 44E' and 41, one side of controlled power outlet 23 also being connected to prong 19 by line 42. The other side of the power input lines (prong 20) is connected by line 43 to normally open contact 27a and normally closed contact 27b of relay 27, said contact 27a in turn being connected by line 44 with the normally closed (as shown) position of switch means 24, and contact 27b connecting through line 45 with the normally open position of said switch means 24. Line 46 from switch means 24 then connects directly with the other side of controlled power outlet 23.

Next considering the sound signal input circuit, relay 27 is connected across terminal screws 33 and 34 on terminal block 30 through line 47, fuse 48 `and line 49 on one side, and line 50, fuse 51 and line 52 on the other side.

In installing the control box to give a visually recognizable signal at a reading lamp, for example, when the sound signal system at hand is a door bell circuit, for example, the door bell circuit will conventionally include -a transformer 55 having a 110 volt primary and a six volt secondary, a door bell 56 connected across the secondary of said transformer 55, and a door bell switch 57 in series with the door bell `56. When installing the control box of the present invention, terminal screws 33 and 34 on terminal block 30 are connected across the terminals of door bell 56 through lines 58 and 59. A light generating means such as a reading lamp or bed lamp or other light normally used near the person who is deaf or hard of hearing is plugged into controlled power outlet 23, such light being schematically indicated at 60.

With the control ibox installed at an electrical outlet, and connected to the door bell circuit, in the manner indicated, and with a suitable light 60 plugged into the controlled power outlet 23, the user can then proceed to use light 60 in a normal manner, tu-rning the same on or off by use of switch means 24 as `he desires. Whenever Ithe sound system (door bell 56) is energized, relay 27 will function to change the then existing condition of energization of light 60 so that the user will be made aware that someone is ringing the door bell. It is an important feature of the present invention that such change of energization of light 60' will occur irrespective of whether such is in use or not in use and, further, no additional light source is necessarily beyond that normally at hand to the user.

FIGS. 7a and 8a present a modified form of sound signal input to the control box, whereby the device can be vused to give visual indication from two sound signal systems, such as a door bell and a telephone. Many persons are not totally deaf and can use a telephone by means of a hearing aid, but nevertheless have extreme difficulty in hearing the telephone ring if they are not wearing their hearing aid or if `the hearing aid is on low volume. It is therefore oftentimes an advantage to have visual cognizance of when either the door bell or the telephone is ringing. To this end, the modified form of sound signal input presented in FIGS. 7a and 8a provides a third input terminal 61 on the terminal block, the block being indicated at 30'. In this modified form, a center tapped relay coil 27 is substituted for the coil of relay 27, and the center tap 62 thereof is brought out by line 63 to the center input terminal 33, which is externally grounded as schematically indicated at 64 to ground center tap 62 of relay '27 and to provide isolation between the two sound circuits. The connecting lines between terminals 34 and 61 are suitably fused by respective fuses 65 and 66. The impedance of relay coil 27' across terminals 33 and 34 matches the impedance of the door bell transformer secondary (usually 6 volts A.C.) and the impedance of the relay coil 27 between terminals 33 and 61 matches the impedance of the telephone alarm system (usually 24 or 48 volts A.C.). Alternatively, a voltage dropping resistor of suitable value can be used in the line from terminal 61 to relay coil 27 in the event the two voltage ratings of the associated portion of relay coil 27 is of a lesser value than the telephone ringing circuit voltage.

From the foregoing description and accompanying illustration of a typical embodiment of the present invention, as well as two types of sound signal input circuits, further variations thereof will be manifest to those skilled in the art. Thus, any plurality of directly connected power outputs can be arranged on the control box and any plurality of control power outputs can likewise be incorporated. Also, several sound signal system inputs can be utilized to selectively control the relay means for changing the energization condition of the control power output or outputs, it being apparent that suitable isolation where necessary among the sound signal system inputs can be realized by utilization of separate relays in the control output energization circuit. Further, the control box of the present invention can be placed remotely from the outlet, as on a desk or table, with a cord being employed for power input. Likewise, the manually actuated switch means can be placed by itself at a remote position, such as by building the same into a reading lamp.

Similarly, it will be evident that other sound alarm system outputs can be converted to a visually perceptible signal by use of the control means of the present invention. Thus, one or more of the sound alarm systems used for inputs to the control device can be a burglar alarm, a fire alarm, or the like, as well as a door -bell circuit and/ or a telephone circuit.

Additionally, while the present invention primarily contemplates utilization by persons who are deaf or are hard of hearing, it is also applicable to uses where the user is at a remote location out `of hearing range of the sound alarm or in situations, such as in a hospital, where sound alarms are not practical or not allowed in areas occupied by patients and a special visual alarm circuit is not available or is not practical to install.

These and other modifications, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the foregoing description thereof, and various further Vmodifications, rearrangements, and fields of application of same will be apparent to those skilled in the art, within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A compact, self-contained electrical outlet control box for use in conjunction with and removably mountable on a standard electrical outlet, said control box comprising an enclosure having front, back, top, bottom and side walls, power input means mounted on and extending outwardly from said back wall, said power input means being insertable into a standard electrical outlet to receive power therefrom, screw means extending from said back Wall for removably mounting said control box on said electrical outlet with said power input means in said outlet, a power output means mounted in the said front wall, manually actuated switch means mounted in said top wall, connected to selectively connect or disconnect said power input means with said power output means, sound signal system input means situated on the said back wall near the bottom thereof relay means connected across said sound signal system input means functioning when energized to change the condition of energization of said second power output means irrespective of the position of said manually actuated switch means and a spacer block configured to contact and retain said switch means and said power output means in place in said control box, the said screw means for removably mounting said control box passing through and positioning said spacer block in said control box.

2. A compact, self-contained electrical outlet control box for use in conjunction with and removably mountable on a standard electrical outlet, said control box comprising an enclosure having front, back, top, bottom and side walls, pronged power input means mounted on and extending outwardly from said back wall, said pronged means being insertable into a standard electrical outlet receptacle to receive power therefrom, means extending from said back wall for physically mounting said control box on said electric outlet with said pronged power input means in said outlet receptacle, a first power output means mounted in said front wall, directly connected to said power input means, a second power output means mounted in the said front Wall, manually actuated switch means mounted in said top wall, connected to selectively connect or disconnect said power input means with said second power output means, sound signal system input means situated on the said back wall near the bottom thereof, relay means connected across said sound signal system input means functioning when energized to change the condition of energization of said second power output means irrespective of the position of said manually actuated switch means, said first and second power output means and said manually actuated switch means being assembled in said box with an L-shaped insulating spacer block therebetween, and a second spacer block of generally cross-shaped configuration being placed to contact and retain said switch means and said first and second power output means in place in said control box.

3. A compact, self-contained, demountable electrical outlet control box for use in conjunction with a standard power outlet receptacle and a sound signal system such as a door bell or the like, and adapted to change the condition of energization of a visually perceived means such as an electric light when said sound signal system is energized, in order that a person in View of the electric light and not within range of or not capable of hearing the sound signal will be aware that the sound signal system is being energized, said control box comprising twoline power input means of a type to engage and receive power from said receptacle, a controlled, two-line power output means, manually actuated switch means for selectively establishing said controlled power output means as normally energized or normally de-energized, the said switch means connecting said power output means 'with said controlled power output means through either of two parallel connecting paths, with a normally open contact in one connecting path and a normally closed contact in the other connecting path, input means energized when said sound signal system is energized, relay means energized from such sound signal system input means, said relay means when energized closing said normally open contact and opening said normally closed contact, the visually perceived means when connected to said controlled power outlet thereby having the condition of energization thereof changed whenever said sound signal system is energized and thereby making said person aware thereof, a spacer block configured to contact and retain said switch means and said power output means in place in said control box, and screw means passing through said spacer block and the `front. and back of said box for removably mounting said box on said standard power outlet receptacle.

4. A compact, self-contained, demountable electrical outlet control box for use in conjunction with a standard power outlet receptacle and a sound signal system such as a door bell or the like, and adapted to change the condition of energization of a light producing means such as an electric light when said sound signal system is energized, in order that a person in view of the light producing means and not within range of or capable of hearing the sound signal will be warned that the sound signal system is being energized, said control box comprising two-line power input means of a type to engage and receive power from said receptacle, a power output means directly connected to said power input means, a controlled, two-line power output means, manually actuated switch means for selectively estabilshing said controlled power output means as normally energized or normally de-energized, the said switch means connecting said power output means with said controlled power output means through either of two parallel connecting paths, with -a normally open contact in one connecting path and a normally closed contact in the other connecting path, input means energized when said sound signal system is energized, relay means energized from such sound signal system input means, said relay means when energized closing said normally open contact and opening said nor mally closed contact, the light producing means when connected to said controlled power outlet thereby having the condition of energization thereof changed whenever said sound signal system is energized and thereby making said person aware thereof, a spacer block configured to contact and retain said switch means and said first and second power output means in place in said control box, and screw means passing through said spacer block and the front and back of said control box for removably mounting same on said standard power outlet receptacle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,492,686 Hamill May 6, 1924 2,157,787 Farrell May 9, 1939 2,213,100 Cianchi Aug. 27, 1940 2,562,069 Stein July 24, 1951 

